Sponsors (2)
The bill simplifies federal education funding and increases local control with predictable, flat block grants, but does so by eliminating many targeted federal programs and fixing allocations at FY2025 levels—risking service losses for high‑need students, erosion of funding over time, and shifting costs and burdens to states, localities, and excluded territories/tribes.
State governments receive predictable, level block-grant funding set at FY2025 allocations starting in FY2026, giving states and local districts a known baseline for budgeting and multi-year planning.
Local schools and districts gain greater local control and flexibility over curricula and spending as many federally directed requirements and categorical rules are removed.
Consolidating multiple programs into a single state block grant reduces federal compliance and administrative burdens for State Education Agencies and Local Education Agencies, simplifying paperwork and program management.
Low-income, high-need, and special populations (including students in Title I, English learners, migrant/neglected/delinquent youth, rural and tribal schools, and those served by after‑school and student support programs) would lose targeted federal supports and services that many districts rely on.
Fixing grant amounts at FY2025 levels risks erosion of real funding over time (due to inflation and enrollment growth), reducing resources available to schools, teachers, and students unless Congress provides additional appropriations later.
States and districts may face sudden funding shortfalls that force them to replace lost federal dollars with state or local funds or cut services, increasing pressure for local tax increases or program reductions.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Repeals many ESEA formula grants and replaces them with an annual state block grant equal to each state's FY2025 funding, starting FY2026.
Introduced January 31, 2025 by Timothy Burchett · Last progress January 31, 2025
Creates a new annual federal block grant to states for K–12 education beginning in FY2026. The grant amount for each state equals what that state received in FY2025 from a set of existing Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) formula programs, unless Congress provides a different appropriation. The bill simultaneously repeals those listed ESEA formula grant programs effective October 1, 2025, and defines “State” to mean the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.